Ortega taps new CEO to grow in N.A.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Only a few short months after securing $11.8 million in funding, Ortega InfoSystems has brought new top brass on board to lead the company’s growth in the North American market. In January, company officials announced that Dennis Raefield, the former president at Honey-well Access Systems Group, joined the company. Raefield takes over for Steve Chu, Ortega’s founder and former chief executive officer. Chu is now chief operating officer at Ortega, based here. “They needed someone who had a good relationship with systems integrators,” said Raefield. Though Ortega has been in the North American market for the past several years, the company has a larger market share in the Asian market where its FacilitySm@rt product was first tested and launched. Today the company has about 85 installations of its FacilitySm@rt software worldwide. In his role as president and chief executive officer, Raefield will be responsible for building the company’s network of systems integrators that use its software to enable disparate security systems to work together. The focus will be attracting a select group of systems integrators with a focus on Fortune 1000 companies who have multiple systems that need to work together. Currently the company has a pool of 12 active dealers in North America, but plans call to grow that to between 80 to 100. In the next few months, the company intends to embark on its plan to open regional sales offices, with one slated for New York in the first quarter of the year. Other locations under consideration include Chicago and Boca Raton, Fla.